Is your business viable?

jsmoke · 7 May 2020 at 17:41

If you were to set up as a tradesperson in your area, how do you know if there's a place in the market for you?

jsmoke · 7 May 2020 at 19:16

paradigm said:
Can you fill a niche in an already saturated market? Or can you offer a competitively priced service/product in a less fierce marketplace?

If you can answer one of those positively then crack on. If you can’t then is it actually a sensible proposition?

Well I'm new to this, can you base a business like this on, 'i'll give it a go and see what happens' or do you need a full business plan with relavant market research ?

How do you know if the market is saturated etc?

jsmoke · 8 May 2020 at 20:45

Steeps said:
Follow local Facebook groups. If the same trades are constantly posting in every page then the market is saturated. If not, give it a try.

Create a basic plan, properly count out your expenses for living and working with the changes. Try to keep any startup costs to a minimum but invest in the right product and systems to work efficiently. If you have savings and can afford to give it a go, go for it.

Just remember your trade skills will only get you so far. How you present yourself and manage your business will do the rest.

Yeh that's my fear, back into the murky(ish) world of reputation, networking and presentation. I mean it makes sense but never my strong point. I'm a 'do a professional job' and that's my selling point.

So really you just look at FB to get an idea of the market?

What if you just gave it a go like a trial. Atm I'm pretty comfortable and could just try it out for say 6 months, is this a reasonable approach?

jsmoke · 11 May 2020 at 19:41

Russinating said:
For my area... because I'd be a tradesperson.

Literally every trade has demand that outstrips supply. And most still busy despite having terrible customer service and questionable work standards. But that's a seller's market.

If **** ever hit the fan with my day job I'd definitely retrain as a plumber/electrician/general handyman. With a far better knowledge than your average tradesperson of business/IT/customer service I've no doubt I'd be able to carve out a fat chunk of the market, and that's trying to be modest.

What kind of time period would you be looking at to train, 4 years?