Advice to get business going

[nobbie48]

Yeah Facebook market place, and kijiji would be a start. Maybe after checking after with the personal network. Referrals are the best.
How does you wife promote herself? She could always mention you are doing this to her clients if there is a fit.

I love it. There is two way feed back on the ethics of both the client and worker.

There seems to be a market for keeping seniors in their homes. Cheaper than a seniors apartment and familiar surroundings. If they spend a few bucks on repairs and updates it's still less than a seniors home.

 

[nobbie48]

That is kind of my plan, but I'll start much smaller.
Scroll saw and patterns to make some small wood crafts. Post and sell online (As I ship packages out everyday anyways)
People love nick knacks & crafts plus they enjoy browsing while sitting on the toilet... it's a win / win!
Not looking to make a living out of it, but just something to occupy my spare time.

I made a dozen or so bandsaw boxes, giving most of them away as gifts. Not much in material cost but lots of time.

A friend dropped by and for giggles I showed him one and asked what he would pay for it at a craft fair. He replied $3. So much stuff out of China destroys the home market.

I would prefer a limited market of custom items rather than compete with a dollar store.

Industrially there are small manufactures that turn out limited quantities of say, electrical panels. Their expertise and equipment is geared towards the electrons. They can't justify the metal working equipment and skills to punch out windows and plexi inserts for a half dozen boxes a week. Big machine shops want more volume.

 

[GreyGhost]

y there are small manufactures that turn out limited quantities of say, electrical panels. Their expertise and equipment is geared towards the electrons. They can't justify the metal working equipment and skills to punch out windows and plexi inserts for a half dozen boxes a week. Big machine shops want more volume.

There is a market for similar with pelican cases. Client gives you equipment, you hand back a case with equipment securely organized inside. Again, that is B2B and time-sensitive so I wouldn't want it as a hobby job.

 

[nobbie48]

WSIB is complicated in his situation. If he hires an employee, he has to get it but if only owners are employees, he can't get it until a client forces him too and then he can get "optional" WSIB coverage. Once you have optional coverage setup, you have clearance certificates and can keep it going forever The system is beyond stupid.

I went through it. I needed clearance to get paid but WSIB kept saying since I was a one man band I couldn't register. After about six calls and different reps I finally found a guy that agreed with me and admitted the system was stupid and I didn't qualify. Then he said "if only you had done a certain type of job you'd be OK." I said I fixed something a someone's cottage once and have an invoice. He said come on down and I was in.

Once in be polite and do as told. Yes sir, yes ma'am.

Or hire an employees for the day fire him the next.

There is a market for similar with pelican cases. Client gives you equipment, you hand back a case with equipment securely organized inside. Again, that is B2B and time-sensitive so I wouldn't want it as a hobby job.

Agreed. Once you get good at something it's easy to get overwhelmed. Painting a room can be put off.

I used to sell parts to Nortel. If they had a dozen expensive systems to be shipped but were waiting for a final part they didn't care what your plans or problems were.

 

[nobbie48]

Beekeeping...decent money in honey.

Politics there as well.

I was talking to a second or third generation beekeeper a few years ago and he said the associations were more interested in subsidies for hive collapse than for better honey standards. The average consumer thinks all honey is the same so it's all about price. "A blend of Canadian and imported honeys"

 

[Chris-CJ]

Politics there as well.

I was talking to a second or third generation beekeeper a few years ago and he said the associations were more interested in subsidies for hive collapse than for better honey standards. The average consumer thinks all honey is the same so it's all about price. "A blend of Canadian and imported honeys"

Some of the "IImported Honey" = honey + commercial syrup, from a certain country, re-routed via a third country that actually produces honey, so that the origin is obfuscated and the consumer is unaware of the actual content of the product on the shelf.

Analysis of Imported Honey for Economically Motivated Adulteration

The purpose of the assignment was to identify products that contained undeclared added sweeteners and prevent them from being distributed in the U.S. market.

www.fda.gov

Apologies OP for this thread derail!

 

[mimico_polak]

Good luck with that.



OnlyFans.




70-90k/year is a side hustle??

Yup. He sets the printers up and then they’re printing all day and night. He has cameras set up to make sure everything is running smooth and he can check it from anywhere.

Spoke with him about it 2 years ago and he was tracking to hit 100k.

And yes. All reported to CRA and tracked. He’s not a Polak…

 

[crankcall]

He a smart guy running it through CRA , all the extra electricity, space allocated, office space , portion of his other related bills . It’s not always bad to be on the level.
And worst case scenario, have a fire start as a result of the business “ you weren’t running “ in your house .


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[Jampy00]

He a smart guy running it through CRA , all the extra electricity, space allocated, office space , portion of his other related bills . It’s not always bad to be on the level.
And worst case scenario, have a fire start as a result of the business “ you weren’t running “ in your house .


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I agree.
When you're making $50.00 with a small scale part-time hobby business, not much to claim.
When that $50.00 turns into 50K that is a whole other ball game.

It's all about risk versus rewards...

 

[nobbie48]

He a smart guy running it through CRA , all the extra electricity, space allocated, office space , portion of his other related bills . It’s not always bad to be on the level.
And worst case scenario, have a fire start as a result of the business “ you weren’t running “ in your house .


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I had an office in my house and it messed with my home insurance. The fact that no one came here was irrelevant.

 

[Chris-CJ]

Politics there as well.

I was talking to a second or third generation beekeeper a few years ago and he said the associations were more interested in subsidies for hive collapse than for better honey standards. The average consumer thinks all honey is the same so it's all about price. "A blend of Canadian and imported honeys"

More Busy Bees this year .....

Busy bees in ‘23 - Statistics Canada

You’re not likely to hear the buzz of a bee in Canada at this time of year, but a spoonful of their honey in a glass of hot tea sure does soothe a dry or sore throat on a cold winter night. Last summer, Canada’s “working” bees made the equivalent of 73 spoonsful of sweet soothing honey for every...

www.statcan.gc.ca

 

[crankcall]

I have a home office and I just declare ‘no one comes here ‘ . Otherwise it is an insurance red flag .


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[mimico_polak]

Hahahaha....tons of experts out there...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Construction/comments/1afw8su

 

[crankcall]

I found on occasion I felt guilty charging fair value for side jobs I did . I didn’t ‘need’ the job , it was to cover fun money . But I was doing a disservice to the industry by being cheap for friends , because somewhere was a tile guy that needed to feed his family.
Then I saw some of the work being done , and the quality people ended up paying for . There was lots of room for a guy to paint a room or two and not roll over the electrical receptacle.


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[oioioi]

I found on occasion I felt guilty charging fair value for side jobs I did . I didn’t ‘need’ the job , it was to cover fun money . But I was doing a disservice to the industry by being cheap for friends , because somewhere was a tile guy that needed to feed his family.
Then I saw some of the work being done , and the quality people ended up paying for . There was lots of room for a guy to paint a room or two and not roll over the electrical receptacle.


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I never understood why many painters will take off the electrical wall plates but will NOT take off the phone/data jacks and cut around them.

Please educate me today.

 

[Mikedezo44]

I'm sick of Toronto traffic so would want to set distance limits. Spending a half day driving across Toronto and back to price a job or retrieve a tool isn't on my fun list.

When I was first starting out I broke something in Toronto that cost me an extra trip back and forth to go back and fix it and I thought never again.

Every summer I have to write off a couple of forgotten hand tools. Customer rarely call or text me back to remind me I forgot my $25 tape measure, it's always me remembering. Bonus for them.
I can't deal with traffic either, over the years my circle of where I will go has gotten smaller and smaller. About 45 mins around Hamilton/Burlington. Have had more than one "customer" call and get mad at me I wasn't going to do their job in Pickering saying things like "I love having to beg someone to take my money" And other rude things. I reply I'm lucky I'm in the position I don't need your money. Also, I'm not aware my ad said Ontario wide services? It doesn't.

Not much bothers me more than someone telling me how fast I can get somewhere. Saying things like "it's only 40 mins" When I know it's an hour and 10 minutes without traffic. I have replied "sorry I don't do double the speed limit" or, "If you can get here in 40 mins WHILE doing the speed limit, I'll do the job for free"

 

[mimico_polak]

I found on occasion I felt guilty charging fair value for side jobs I did . I didn’t ‘need’ the job , it was to cover fun money . But I was doing a disservice to the industry by being cheap for friends , because somewhere was a tile guy that needed to feed his family.
Then I saw some of the work being done , and the quality people ended up paying for . There was lots of room for a guy to paint a room or two and not roll over the electrical receptacle.


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I helped a friend paint their apartment once. There was a mirror on the wall, so naturally I took the mirror off...imagine my surprise where the mirror outline was the only painted area, and there were marks of 3 different colours under the mirror...

As for receptacles...that's a pet peeve of mine. It's such a simple process...literally 30s per receptacle to remove, paint, and return back.

Same goes for door hinges, handles, and any type of other things that are easily removed and replaced.

Makes a world of difference.

 

[Jampy00]

I never understood why many painters will take off the electrical wall plates but will NOT take off the phone/data jacks and cut around them.

Please educate me today.

1 screw versus 2 screws...

 

[hdsomeday]

I never understood why many painters will take off the electrical wall plates but will NOT take off the phone/data jacks and cut around them.

Please educate me today.

Wires are attached to the plate so you cant take it off and set it aside without unhooking the wires. Plate and wires end up hanging in the way and/or scraping the new paint.

 

[crankcall]

I take the plate off , disconnect wires and tape them up and shove them into the box . 95% of the time they aren’t in service anyway .


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