How would you like to know an easy way to grow a business where…
- You don’t have to make sacrifices
- You don’t have to spend much time or make any big commitments.
- You don’t have to spend lots of money.
- You don’t have to make any tough decisions.
- You don’t have to do anything you don’t like, and you can have other people do it for you.
You get to do the work you enjoy most daily, plus the freedom and fulfillment of a profitable business.
Sound compelling?
Of course, it does. But it’s ridiculous.
If starting a profitable business was that easy, everyone would do it, competition would quickly outpace demand, and it would be hard again very quickly.
Starting a business will always be challenging, as it should be. You want it to be challenging, so the rewards are worth it.
But, there are easier ways to start a business than others, and that’s what I discuss in this episode.
Listen to the podcast version of this article, which includes extra content. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app!
HS050 – Starting a business the easy way
Don’t wait for things to be easy because they never will be
I was talking to a handyman last week. He was in a tough situation. He had a full-time job. He was offering handyman services on the side. He was commuting to a different city for his jobs and wanted to build his handyman business full-time in the city where he lived.
But he felt there was too much competition and wasn’t sure he could make it work. He also knew that if he were going to make it work, he would need to establish an online presence to generate enough customers to keep his schedule full.
So, he started building his website. He got through the first couple of steps but quickly ran into a snag. It was more challenging than he expected, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
Riddled in uncertainty and frustration, he gave up to find an easier way.
As a result, he was no closer to escaping that situation and having that full-time business in the city where he lives.
There’s no judgment here. I’ve done the same thing many times. I also admire him for continuing to seek a solution, which is why we were speaking in the first place.
But here’s what often happens when trying to grow a business.
A task you are doing is harder than you expected. Maybe that’s naming your business, filing for an LLC, building your website, or attracting your first customers. It takes longer than you expected. It’s more confusing. It costs more money than you thought it would.
So you start to doubt yourself. You start to lose motivation. You wonder if it’s worth it. You wonder if you’re cut out for this. You wonder if there’s some easier way out there. And you want to give up. Then you start to think, maybe there’s some secret others know I don’t.
And so, often, that leads you to give up. Over the years, I’ve consulted with many who run into this roadblock. They want a more profitable business. I tell them a solution, and immediately, I see it on their faces.
Their reaction says, “Well, that sounds hard. I don’t want to do that. I don’t know how to do that. I can’t do that. Isn’t there an easier way?”
Again, this often leads to giving up or waiting for things to be easy (which rarely happens). So, they consume more information, do more research, and try to gain certainty when the reality is that certainty does not exist.
You will never be 100% certain.
And yes, maybe there is an easier way to move forward, and you should look for it. But most of the time, there isn’t an easier way, and waiting for an easier way keeps you stuck.
If you keep waiting for things to be easy, nothing will change.
Business growth happens when you face challenges head-on
Almost every time I’ve created significant growth within my business, it’s because I faced a challenging situation head-on. It’s not because I found an easy way or had some advantage.
For example, when deciding which business to start, I read several books on career options and how to find my purpose. I desperately wanted somebody to tell me, “Here’s what you should do, man. This is what you’re good at. You should do that.”
But nobody could. I had no other option than to stick with the problem until it was solved, which took me months. It was uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to push through until I felt good about a decision.
Eventually, I decided to start a handyman business. When I started my business, nobody wanted to hire me because I looked like a teenager. People would disregard me because I looked so young. They assumed I didn’t have enough skills or experience. To be fair, they were probably right.
But I still wanted to start my business, and I’d already quit my engineering job. So, instead of giving up, I dove into digital marketing. I studied it. It was hard. I was uncertain if it would work, but it was my best chance. So, I focused on it. I did things that other handymen wouldn’t do, and I thrived as a result.
Another time, I didn’t know how to price my services, and I felt like I was wasting my time making way less money than I could be with my handyman services.
At the time, I was podcasting, blogging, and running my handyman business. I didn’t have kids then, so I had more time to do these things. But while doing my handyman services, I knew I wasn’t making as much money as I could be. I knew I was underpricing jobs. I spent way too much time figuring out how to quote a job. I had too many gaps in my schedule between jobs.
I was leaving a ton of money on the table, but I didn’t know the solution.
I searched for advice and couldn’t find a good solution. Eventually, I got to the point where I was like, “Man, I’m not getting anywhere. I’m just spinning my wheels.” So, I had to do something challenging.
I stopped podcasting. I cut back on my handyman services and made less money while focusing on figuring out how to price my services more profitably.
It took me about nine months, but I ended up writing the first book on handyman pricing.
That book sold well over a thousand copies, and I eventually learned even better pricing strategies, which I used to build my pricing course “$100K Handyman Pricing.”
As a result of facing the challenge instead of waiting for an easy way, I started making more money as a handyman. I started scheduling my services more efficiently, making more money and less time. I was able to sell these programs to help other handymen make more money in less time.
That was a huge breakthrough. But it wouldn’t have happened if I had just kept trying to do the same things I was doing (which was easier).
Again, every time I’ve seen growth in my business, it’s because I went through one of those challenges, which was always difficult.
Any time I’ve waited for something to be easy, I’ve made little or no progress. And trust me, there have been many of those times.
You WANT it to be difficult to grow a business; you just may not realize it yet.
Everyone is always looking for an easy way to grow a business. But here’s why you want it to be difficult to start a business…
Easy leads to competition.
The best example of this is crowded ski slopes. If you’ve been skiing over the last decade, I guarantee your favorite mountain is way busier than it was ten years ago.
Many argue that convenience, low-priced season passes, and corporate greed have ruined skiing.
Ease is what ruined skiing (at least on Friday-Sunday at major ski resorts).
But, when skiing is not easy, it’s far less crowded and, in my opinion, more fun.
Just going during bad weather will cut the crowds in half. Or, even better, if you’re willing to get a backcountry setup, you can access fresh powder more consistently. It’s just not nearly as easy.
Any challenge weeds out a tremendous portion of the population.
With business, you want challenges and obstacles to weed out competition.
If starting a business was easy, everybody would do it, and supply would rapidly outpace demand.
But that’s actually impossible because there’s a natural balance. As supply increases faster than demand, competition increases, making it more challenging for businesses to stay in business. The people who aren’t willing to make the sacrifices and do the hard things give up, which balances things out.
And that’s why it continues to work; it’s not easy.
Many businesses work hard to create artificial obstacles to keep people out of their market. They want it to be hard for you. One example of this is contractor licensing regulations.
Who do you think is the biggest fan of contractor licensing regulations that limit you from being able to do plumbing, HVAC, or electrical without a specialty license?
It’s the people who have a license!
They want as few people to have those licenses as possible so they can charge higher rates and make more money.
Challenges = Opportunities
So, when you hit one of these challenges along your business journey, look at it as an opportunity. It means that a certain percentage of the people trying to start that business will automatically be weeded out, and all you have to do is keep going to gain an advantage.
When trying to get customers, you have many options. Most people opt for the easy path and pay for leads. Welcome to the crowds! Enjoy paying too much for leads and fighting for scraps.
But if you’re willing to do some things that other people aren’t willing to do, like the things that I teach in Handiman Marketing Machine, you’ll be cruising down a much less crowded and more profitable road.
Don’t seek easy. Seek advantages.
There’s a counterintuitive truth if you want to make growing a business easy. The easy way to grow a business is to stop looking for the easy way and start looking for advantages.
If I were to change that slightly, I would say, “Stop looking for the easy way and start working for advantages.”
Looking for advantages is important. You need to find those advantages. But ultimately, you’ll spend more of your time working to obtain those advantages because they won’t be something you stumble into. They’ll require time, effort, and sacrifice.
Conclusion
Starting a handyman or home service business is far easier than most businesses.
But starting or growing a business will never be easy, and you don’t want it to be. You want it to be challenging to weed out competition.
And next time you run into an obstacle and think, “This is too hard. There must be an easier way.” Go ahead and look for an easier way because there’s no reason to make it harder than it needs to be. But if you don’t find one, lean into the challenge. It’s your ticket to gaining an advantage.
If you’re ready to start your handyman business or take your business to the next level, grab your unfair advantage right here.
