Ideas about how to earn a little extra every month
Discussion
I'd like to boost my income a bit, the only problem is I work shifts, so working a pub job every Wednesday evening wouldn't be possible. I was thinking of offering a gutter clearing service as it's something I can do. An extra £3-400 a month post tax would be nice. Is my idea viable, or can anyone suggest an alternative? Cheers.
Gutter clearing or other services such as gardening are all entirely viable as part time earners, IF you can get the work, and such work is to be had in your area.
So assuming your area would support such a service the big question is how are you going to get the work? Do you have a network of friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours who could and would put the word about? Failing that you could knock on some doors or get some flyers printed and put them in letterboxes.
Then, if and when you get some work, make sure your vehicle has signage (temporary if necessary) advertising your availability to the neighbouring households.
Are you good at approaching people and asking them for work, and then asking them for the money? Not everyone can do that.
So assuming your area would support such a service the big question is how are you going to get the work? Do you have a network of friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours who could and would put the word about? Failing that you could knock on some doors or get some flyers printed and put them in letterboxes.
Then, if and when you get some work, make sure your vehicle has signage (temporary if necessary) advertising your availability to the neighbouring households.
Are you good at approaching people and asking them for work, and then asking them for the money? Not everyone can do that.
singlecoil said:
Gutter clearing or other services such as gardening are all entirely viable as part time earners, IF you can get the work, and such work is to be had in your area.
So assuming your area would support such a service the big question is how are you going to get the work? Do you have a network of friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours who could and would put the word about? Failing that you could knock on some doors or get some flyers printed and put them in letterboxes.
Then, if and when you get some work, make sure your vehicle has signage (temporary if necessary) advertising your availability to the neighbouring households.
Are you good at approaching people and asking them for work, and then asking them for the money? Not everyone can do that.
I've worked for myself doing landscaping, and was reasonably successful at it (given my age when I started circa 21). The hard part was not getting the work, in fact I was pretty good at that. I even managed to book out work for weeks ahead with a team of 3 other guys I had working for/with me. So assuming your area would support such a service the big question is how are you going to get the work? Do you have a network of friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours who could and would put the word about? Failing that you could knock on some doors or get some flyers printed and put them in letterboxes.
Then, if and when you get some work, make sure your vehicle has signage (temporary if necessary) advertising your availability to the neighbouring households.
Are you good at approaching people and asking them for work, and then asking them for the money? Not everyone can do that.
The real problem comes with organising and also quoting for work. Are you going to measure your ladders before you quote for a job against the height of the gutters? Are you going to inspect the gutters before you quote... Usually things will work well, but I promise you there will come a time where everything that can go wrong will. The OP will have a time when he is cleaning a gutter and it falls apart because it's old. The house owner will blame him.. Thats life/business.
My biggest weakness was organising. If I needed to hire a bigger van, I'd always call them just when they had rented the last one... That would mean I'd have to spend another hour calling different companies eventually finding one miles away. This sort of thing seriously counted against us when we against the clock... Anything you don't own means you are relying on a rental company... Or someone you know. Your own tools will break at the worst possible time...
Other problems were getting reliable workers. I've had people walk off when they realised I was maybe making £4/5 hundred in a day and only paying them £60. I've had people promise to be on site at 8 and then never show. I've had respected subcontractors promise the world and when it got tough explain they couldn't actually do it. All of this stuff comes back to YOU - you were the one who agreed to take on the job, you will be the one losing out financially and your name will be the one which is slated.
Btw - the number of rules and regulations you need to apply by to be legal are silly. Where are you planning on getting rid of the rubbish from the gutter? Council top won't take it... If you do any good knocking or sell from house, unless you give clearly written terms of contract and cancellation Trading Standards will allow people to rip you off.
Example - did some work for a lovely lady. She was elderly and I brought in a specialist tree surgeon to reduce a medium sized tree whilst we trimmed the hedges etc... All went well. She was delighted. So much so that her daughter asked me to pop over and quote for her... I did this. Involved removing two small trees and some very overgrown bushes. After we did the work she decided she regretted asking us to do it.. Preferred the large bushes. She was an accountant and refused to pay a penny. Nothing I could do. She new the rules and went straight to trading standards who said any contract I had was unenforceable because I didn't give her a cooling off period... I lost over £400. And I just had to let it go.
Another point is taking payment - cash is great. Cheques not so... There is no cheque guarantee anymore and they can be cancelled. Bank transfer is best, but you need an ipad/phone to check it's been paid. Amazing the number of times people had "just paid it over" only for them to remember it didn't work when I checked. Taking card payments is a nightmare, it costs a lot of money and in the field you need a 3g signal to do it...
Sorry if that sounds overly negative. It's just an honest insight into what you are letting yourself in for.
Thanks both of you. I'll sort public liability insurance for anything that goes wrong, that was always a definite. I don't want to go to the extent of it being a fully blown business hiring people and revamping gardens using specialistals and such like. I just want to make £3-400 a month clearing gutters/lawn mowing/ painting fences or sheds... just basic things like that. I live in Poole, we never get flyers for such services. I can get A5 flyers really cheap and use Facebook/Gumtree and local papers for advertising. If for example four or five people a week wanted their gutters done at around I guess £25 a time then I'm making what I want. We paid someone £30 a while ago, think he was here for a couple of hours. I don't think I'm being unrealistic, not expecting to make a fortune!
sparks_E39 said:
Thanks both of you. I'll sort public liability insurance for anything that goes wrong, that was always a definite. I don't want to go to the extent of it being a fully blown business hiring people and revamping gardens using specialists and such like. I just want to make £3-400 a month clearing gutters/lawn mowing/ painting fences or sheds... just basic things like that. I live in Poole, we never get flyers for such services. I can get A5 flyers really cheap and use Facebook/Gumtree and local papers for advertising. If for example four or five people a week wanted their gutters done at around I guess £25 a time then I'm making what I want. We paid someone £30 a while ago, think he was here for a couple of hours. I don't think I'm being unrealistic, not expecting to make a fortune!
Good on you and good luck. I started exactly the same way. Got 5000 flyers from ebay for about £50. Soon realised they were junk and paid a friend/pro £60 to design some and got more. Then went out knocking on doors and putting them through if no one was in. Then went for local newspaper adds (didn't get a lot through this). I found village mags and parish mags really useful for getting work. Don't just put them through the door. Knock and sell yourself. You would be amazed at how many people will be willing to get you to do it there and then. A flyer is easy to think about and throw, someone there with the tools at the door is an amazing call to action!
With regards to serviced and pricing (and sorry if you don't want this advice). I found I got more work when I charged more. Amazing really. If you are cheap then people thing you will do a bad job. When you are fairly priced then they assume they are getting a better service - truth be told I worked as hard for perfection on all jobs I did.
You can get branded shirts very cheap online. it makes you look professional. Also always have a business card ready to hand out. You can get invoice books very cheap from amazon/ebay, or branded ones if you want (I never bothered with these). I also used an app on my ipad to email invoices with logos, this gives the air of professionalism without spending a fortune.
Insurance is good - but you don't really want to use it. Claiming for a cracked window on a shed is not a smart move when you can get the glass and fit it yourself for a tenner. Basically it will be hard work, sometimes fun and if you are anything like me it will take over your life.
Good luck.
lookingforajob said:
Good on you and good luck. I started exactly the same way. Got 5000 flyers from ebay for about £50. Soon realised they were junk and paid a friend/pro £60 to design some and got more. Then went out knocking on doors and putting them through if no one was in. Then went for local newspaper adds (didn't get a lot through this). I found village mags and parish mags really useful for getting work.
Don't just put them through the door. Knock and sell yourself. You would be amazed at how many people will be willing to get you to do it there and then. A flyer is easy to think about and throw, someone there with the tools at the door is an amazing call to action!
With regards to serviced and pricing (and sorry if you don't want this advice). I found I got more work when I charged more. Amazing really. If you are cheap then people thing you will do a bad job. When you are fairly priced then they assume they are getting a better service - truth be told I worked as hard for perfection on all jobs I did.
You can get branded shirts very cheap online. it makes you look professional. Also always have a business card ready to hand out. You can get invoice books very cheap from amazon/ebay, or branded ones if you want (I never bothered with these). I also used an app on my ipad to email invoices with logos, this gives the air of professionalism without spending a fortune.
Insurance is good - but you don't really want to use it. Claiming for a cracked window on a shed is not a smart move when you can get the glass and fit it yourself for a tenner. Basically it will be hard work, sometimes fun and if you are anything like me it will take over your life.
Good luck.
Thanks. I currently only have around £5-700 to start up so it's going to be difficult, but hopefully will be worth it!Don't just put them through the door. Knock and sell yourself. You would be amazed at how many people will be willing to get you to do it there and then. A flyer is easy to think about and throw, someone there with the tools at the door is an amazing call to action!
With regards to serviced and pricing (and sorry if you don't want this advice). I found I got more work when I charged more. Amazing really. If you are cheap then people thing you will do a bad job. When you are fairly priced then they assume they are getting a better service - truth be told I worked as hard for perfection on all jobs I did.
You can get branded shirts very cheap online. it makes you look professional. Also always have a business card ready to hand out. You can get invoice books very cheap from amazon/ebay, or branded ones if you want (I never bothered with these). I also used an app on my ipad to email invoices with logos, this gives the air of professionalism without spending a fortune.
Insurance is good - but you don't really want to use it. Claiming for a cracked window on a shed is not a smart move when you can get the glass and fit it yourself for a tenner. Basically it will be hard work, sometimes fun and if you are anything like me it will take over your life.
Good luck.
Have all the flyer delverd by/with a free newspaper.
I used to do this & ask permission from manager of retail park if you can do a leaflet drop in the car park either hand out or under wipers etc.
Go to local fetes for half an hour & handouts etc.
Also (If you can find one ) an iron mongers shop window or similar card in the window.
Good luck
I used to do this & ask permission from manager of retail park if you can do a leaflet drop in the car park either hand out or under wipers etc.
Go to local fetes for half an hour & handouts etc.
Also (If you can find one ) an iron mongers shop window or similar card in the window.
Good luck
I know next to nothing about the gutter clearing business but my one nugget will be not to dwell on all the things that *could* go wrong. When you've got an idea you'll find people will be lining up to tell you (and I'm not referring to the useful advice given upthread, which was entirely constructive) that it can't be done, it's too hard, you'll get sued, you'll make no money etc etc. I had all this and my big idea has just generated enough cash to buy myself another 7 Series if I so wished. If every person who had a big idea stopped to mull over the pitfalls, there'd be no enterprise at all. Crack on, and the best of British, OP.
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