Inventing your own work is not a path for cowards. If you're the type to need everything lined out, nice and neat, stay in your cubicle. It's scary out here and you'll need the guts to pull the trigger on deals you're pretty sure could wreck you if it doesn't work out, but it's the only way.
A business coach friend of mine is fond of saying, "We have to be willing to risk what we have, to get what we want." You learn to leverage the skills, tools and experience you've already got to learn and build bigger and better. It's not like a job, there is no training manual, no supervisor, and no weekly assessments to help you remember to check all the boxes. You're on your own.
And that's exactly where I found myself
In a one hundred thousand square foot millwork, surrounded by 400 carpenters, designers, painters, shippers and sanders, I was totally alone.
The day after the cashwrap was complete (see part one) I felt lost. In a place that I had felt almost overwhelmed by challenge, I now felt like I had nothing left to prove. My friend John noticed it first.
“What’s up with you, Mark, you seem a little off today.”
“Yeah, kind of wondering why I’m here,” I said.
“Well, I wonder that every day,” John grinned.
But it wasn’t a, why did I get out of bed to show up here, kind of feeling it was like a release had happened. I knew I was free to move on, but to what? I started to think about that as I worked, then I made a huge mistake, I started to question my value there.
“How much do we get a for a cashwrap?” The shop manager squinted at me a little.
He was tiny guy, with a rough beard, and glasses. His name was also John.
“Why are you asking?” He asked. “You didn’t tear it up already, did you?”
I laughed, “Nope, just wanted to know how my compensation compares to the sale price.”
He snorted, “It don’t. If you start thinking like that, you’d be gone yesterday.”
Turns out, he was right. For the two days it had taken me to assemble, I’d been paid right at $200.00. Which, at the time, for me, seemed like a decent wage. It was 1996, and I had a high school education. It seemed decent, that is, until I heard what I was making for the company.
Ralph Lauren was paying just over $50k for the piece I’d assembled. I did some quick math, the material was in the neighborhood of a thousand, the cutout that came before me, might cost as much as twice what they paid me, then there was finish, probably four times, which still didn’t add up.
It was costing us somewhere around $1200, which, I decided, I’d quadruple, to $4800 just to be safe. That meant the men in the corner offices were dividing $45,200 or approximately 10x what they’d paid us to do all of the work, including sales and design.
Bullshit.
It turned out the most consistent work available for a carpenter, with the skills I’d learned was in home repair and “handyman” services. But, how much could I earn?
I asked around again and the best answer that came back from several former contractors in the shop was, start with your materials, plus about 25% for waste and overlooks (The things you forget), then double that and add it for your labor to start.
I started doing some calculations.
The more I ran my calculator, the more excited I became. It was clear that even with my limited experience, I was being way underpaid and I knew I could remedy that in a hurry. I took inventory, I knew I could sell, I’d done it all through my life. I knew I could use tools, and I had the basics, and I believed I could provide good service. All I needed was the capital, but I’d get that from each job as I went, as I’d learned to do in my brother run lawncare company. So I set out to do it.
• I designed a flyer and had one thousand half sheets printed.
• I scouted an older neighborhood, with nice homes, a perfect target market.
• I started walking and leaving flyers.
On the Mark Handyman Service
If it’s busted, loose, or rusted
If it squeaks, won’t stay shut, or refuses to open
If it’s chipped, split, worn out, or just plan needs a new one
I can repaint, repair, rebuild, or replace it.
Free up front pricing guaranteed.
Within two hours I had my first customer. It was a small job, but it allowed me to buy a couple of hand tools I didn’t bring with me from the shop, and a box of business cards to upgrade my image. Then my dad called. He had a window washing client that needed a fence, could I build a fence?
I reasoned it couldn’t be that hard, so I agreed to come and do a bid the next day, then rushed home and went to fence building school. It was the days of AOL, so I waited through the screeching while my dial up modem made the connection, then perused the existing websites, until I found some articles on fence building. Compared to cashwraps and custom doors, it looked like a breeze.
My First Real Bid
Now, if you read part one of my story, you know I was negotiating prices for various businesses from the age of about ten, so this wasn’t completely foreign territory, but this was the first time my actual livelihood depended on it. In the past, it had been movie money, or summer camp money, not, hey, the lights need to stay on at my house money and there is a huge difference. The pressure was definitely on.
I talked with the home owner extensively about his project. The fence was over 800 lineal feet, of wide board cedar, in a custom pattern, with the posts set into a concrete mow edge, not the ideal project for a beginner who had never set a fence panel in his life. Fortunately, actors have a way of making people believe they know what they’re doing, although I’m sure he had his doubts later on.
When I was done adding up the details, I priced my materials from three different sources, added everything multiple times and the price I came up with almost made me sick. It was nearly ten thousand dollars. That couldn’t be right, for a fence? So, I shopped the project with a local fence company, asking for a ballpark price by the foot and I was 20% cheaper than their best guess. I was close.
Double checking myself
Since I had never priced a project that large, I walked my dad through it and asked if he thought I was missing anything. Looked good to him, so I printed it up in a neat estimate from a site called Wave Apps that I still use, and took it to the client. He walked through it with, haggled over my down payment, and we had a deal.
Always, have experts in your network you can turn to when you need advice. I was lucky to have a dad that knew how to bid and sell. But, I've always kept relationships with others in my field to bounce ideas off of.
In the proposal, I explained that I was just coming out of a shop and needed to tool up. The client was willing to purchase the tools required for his job to help me get started, and went with me to pay for the material. I didn’t know it then, but I was cheating myself a bit by not allowing some money for the shopping and delivery, which always takes time.
The project was a success
And twenty years later, it’s still standing. I’m sure there have been repairs, but the bulk of the fence, along a local golf course, is exactly as I left it. You can bet I took pictures, used this client as a reference and didn’t bat an eye on my second project when it came to bidding. I was off and running.
Getting paid to learn
For the first several years, there was a learning curve. While I had learned a lot of technical skills in the cabinet shop, there were details about home repair that you just can’t learn until you’re doing it. No two homes are identical, even with the same builder and materials. This didn’t bother me. I’m a good researcher, so I built a library of books and stayed familiar with the DIY sites that were becoming more and more plentiful. I also bought a few cheeseburgers for old shop buddies to get advice from time to time.
The first year was tough, but fun
In the first year, I made over $25,000 from part time carpentry work while running my theater studio. In about 20 hours a week, I was able to clear more than what I’d been making in 45. I built a lot of fence, learned to build decks, installed flooring and hung doors. Only one of which I had done before starting out. I kept my handyman business running pretty consistently over the next six years. It was one of the best decisions of my life.
I’ve never looked back
The day I left the cabinet shop was the last day I’ve ever punched a clock on someone else’s job. I wasn’t necessarily setting out to be self-employed for life, but why go back? The things I liked about the work came with me and the things I hated, like being scolded like a child if I was five minutes late, took a long, unpaid lunch, or needed a day off, were a thing of the past. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
Take aways
It has been my experience that there is never any such thing as a perfect time to do anything in life. To me, the perfect time is when you’re ready and willing to commit. Lack of capital, needing to refine skills and even lack of experience in running a business are all excuses that stop people from stepping out.
I took calculated risks, got paid to learn, capitalized as I went and twenty years later, I spent four months, running a crew of six on a full refurbishment of a century old home, and earned over $40,000.00 doing it.
If you want something bad enough, there’s a way, and I wanted out of a job that didn’t suit my needs. I needed more money for a growing family and I was tired of being treated like someone else’s property, but primarily, I determined I would never put myself in a position to earn more for someone else, than I was being paid, ever.