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In posing the following questions I am hoping to gather information from a few of the seasoned builders on this forum. In the past I have been pleasantly bombarded with some very valuable advice from the fine folks on this program and hope to gain insight from this discussion. This past two months, after going through grueling help problems, I started to work solo. If any of you other builders work solo then you know the opportunity for some quality pondering is more readily available when you don’t have to worry about employees and their doings. To get to the point I have started to think about my company in its present state, and have decided to start planning for my future in this business. About my self: I am a 32 year young “carpenter” who grew up in the buisiness. Among my local peers I am highly regarded in terms of quality of workmanship. I have never had ANY problems regarding quality, and have been referred to as being very “anal” in my craftsmanship. My reputation for quality has my phone busy everyday. A couple of problems that I have in my company are typical; help, and organization. Both problems have caused me to try and specialize. Aside from specializing I am trying to define some short term goals for long term success. Most recently I took the time to sit down for 30 uninterupted minutes and analyze all of my success and failures in this buisiness. That spurned the terrifying notion that as a buisiness person I don’t have a clue where I am going. I was interested to know if any other builders remember a “pivoting” point in your career, and could maybe shed some light on how you were able to define for yourself a clear direction in where your buisiness was heading. And if you have the time, maybe throw a few experiences my way to help me get a serious start on this journey of mine. Thank-you for your time. Jon Jordan
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Jon,
Good luck in your journey. That's what it is, and you never know where it will take you.
Perhaps your "anal"ness is what left you solo. You will find on any crew, people who shine in some areas and others that are regular folks. The key to working in a group is just that. Working in a group. I have my weak points where someone else has a strong point. That is how we survive as a team. They look after me and I look after them.
Learning to "leave well enough alone" is hard fought for some people. But in a business sense, you can't expect perfection all the time. It just doesn't work that way. Your reputation for quailty work is your ticket. But if it cost your customers too much, they will stop buying your ticket.
Your ideas are correct. Quality workmanship is what people want. But at what cost are they willing to go? It depends on the customer. You have to decern between who can afford real quaility and who just needs some good carpentry work. We do some open-ended jobs T&M, but they are few and far between. Even the richest of the rich don't spend their hard earned money foolishly.
Specialization is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a trap. Take the great work with the regular work, learn to tell the difference, and you will survive. Don't ever do sloppy work.......you can do fifty beautiful jobs and nobody cares.....screw up one and you're reputation will suffer.
It's difficult to run a business solo. You need good help that you can depend on while you are out selling more work. I have had several carpenters in our company over the years that if you rode them, were not very good at their job. However, if you gave them the basics and left them alone......beautiful. This is a people business as much as a craft. Learn to work within the skills of your fellow craftsmen and you will be happy with the results.
Good Luck,
Ed. Williams
*Ed, appreciate your input. I don't intend for "anal" to sound like a rocket scientist's approach to "stepping off a hip". I am reletively quick in my own work, and still maintain "tightness", so to speak. My help (when I have it) is usually good, or they are quick, never both. As far as the specialization deal, I am toying with idea because of the training issue involved with "revolving door" employees. If left to my own devices with no "future" concerns I would build whatever I thought looked the most complicated because of my ego-driven personality. However like most of those with a family, (I got three Daughters!), I would like to narrow my buisiness dealings down to a science, Quick turning jobs and less fuss. I haven't tried this avenue before but I am trying to expand my feeble brain. I am one hell of a carpenter, and I know it. But, when forced to take a hard look at other qualities a contractor should have, I am at the bottom of the "gene" pool when it comes to buisiness skills. But I am willing to make some transitions however aggravating!
*Jon,None of us started out as businessmen. We were carpenters first. The business end just happens. One day you don't have a job and you have no choice but to offer your services as an independent contractor.You will learn as you go. It never happens so fast that you can't keep up. As far as a long term future plans..........I just plan to keep busy. I set no goals, I work toward no grand design. And by God if it did'nt just sneak up on me and all of a sudden I have a healthy and profitable business. Take care of today, and tomorrow will take care of you. Don't worry too much about the future. It will happen with or without you. If you can find a speciality nitche that will keep you busy year round, that's great. But never be too "good at what you do" to turn down the simple carpentry jobs that we all have to do. I hope I never tear down another piece of soffit off an old house......but it pays the bills.There has been a lot of good business advice on this board in the past. Check through the archives, and I bet you find direction.Ed. Williams
*Ed, thanks! Finally some "career advice" I can relate to, and not feel that I'm making a mistake by sticking it out!(Working for myself, that is!)You've kinda summed up my plan, glad to see it has worked for at least one other carpenter out there. Jeff
*Ed, sitting here this morning doing paper work that should've been done last week. Decided to take a break and see if there was anything else I could learn on the F.Home/forum. I went back and read your original post and two things struck me in the noggin that I may have overlooked. Your comment on "learning to leave well enough alone" and about this being a "people buisiness as much as a craft" rang through me a couple of hard truths about myself that I generally choose to ignore. I have fought the leaving well enough alone problem for a long time. Just about got it licked. Got so bad at one point that I was,(to the astonishment of clients), ripping down trim work because of (possibly imaginary) flaws in the joints. 'Bout through with those kind of urges unless one of my men just botches the hell out of something. The people buisiness part you mentioned sounds an awful lot like the old tried and true Sonny Lykos, Yall must be about the same age. Your right about the people skills being important. I guess when I asked the question about direction of career paths I overlooked the possibility that with a few fixes in my employee relationship and maybe a little more "letting go" on the jobsite would suffice. It may even free me up for more buisiness doings so I could answer some of my own questions about direction. Thanks buddy, now back to paper work. O-joy!
*Hey Jon,I've enjoyed reading what Sonny Lykos, as well as a lot of other people, have had to say in Breaktime. We are all over 21 so what does age matter. Experience can be had in a short time or a long time. It depends on who is doing the experiencing. Some people are more in tune to learning than others. It sounds to me like you're one of those people who are not too proud or stubborn to learn from everyone you come across. Everyone has something to offer, even if it's how "not" to do something.Keep learning and good luck,Ed. Williams
*Ed, your right about the age don't matter comment, but you sound as seasoned a veteran as Mr. Lykos. I meant my comment in a respectful manner. I generally try and seek out advice from those who've been where I am trying to go in an effort to increase my chances of getting there. On several occasions I have picked up some danged nifty ideas from younger carpenters though, and ain't ashamed to "pick" the brains of anyone with a better way of doing whatever. Appreciate the feed back, Jon J.
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In posing the following questions I am hoping to gather information from a few of the seasoned builders on this forum. In the past I have been pleasantly bombarded with some very valuable advice from the fine folks on this program and hope to gain insight from this discussion. This past two months, after going through grueling help problems, I started to work solo. If any of you other builders work solo then you know the opportunity for some quality pondering is more readily available when you don't have to worry about employees and their doings. To get to the point I have started to think about my company in its present state, and have decided to start planning for my future in this business. About my self: I am a 32 year young "carpenter" who grew up in the buisiness. Among my local peers I am highly regarded in terms of quality of workmanship. I have never had ANY problems regarding quality, and have been referred to as being very "anal" in my craftsmanship. My reputation for quality has my phone busy everyday. A couple of problems that I have in my company are typical; help, and organization. Both problems have caused me to try and specialize. Aside from specializing I am trying to define some short term goals for long term success. Most recently I took the time to sit down for 30 uninterupted minutes and analyze all of my success and failures in this buisiness. That spurned the terrifying notion that as a buisiness person I don't have a clue where I am going. I was interested to know if any other builders remember a "pivoting" point in your career, and could maybe shed some light on how you were able to define for yourself a clear direction in where your buisiness was heading. And if you have the time, maybe throw a few experiences my way to help me get a serious start on this journey of mine. Thank-you for your time. Jon Jordan