Tell people what kind of trade you are. Know your value proposition.
It’s easy to think that a trade is a trade, a plumber is a plumber, the sparky is a sparky, builder is a builder. I don’t think that’s true. There are very different types of trades business and the customers can tell the difference between them and they know which one they want. There are […]
Mates Rates – It’s a Discount Request. How to say NO in your negotiation.
Do you often get asked to do mates rates? I’m sure you do and I think you should treat that request with the contempt it deserves. I’m Jon from Small Fish Business Coaching. I help trades business owners resist discounting pressure so you can make a lot of money which of course is why we’re […]
Too Busy – There’s no such thing (Hint: You’re Procrastinating – Manage your time better)
Hi it’s Jon here. Today’s Toolbox Tip is: ‘There’s no such thing as ‘too busy.’ “I’m too busy to do that.” “I’m too busy to that difficult thing, that uncomfortable thing, that big hard job.” Well I’m calling…I’m calling bullshit on you. I’m Jon, I’m from Small Fish Business Coaching. I run the Tradies Toolbox […]
Slow Progress is Still Progress – don’t give up too soon
Hey! Jon here. It’s a bit cold today so I’m wearing my pullover and I want to talk about incremental games or the little wins, or a little bit better is still better. I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “What are you talking about Jon?” Well, remember that saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Well, […]
Markup vs Gross Margin: The Pricing Mistake That’s Bleeding Your Business
Markup is the percentage you add on top of your cost. Margin is the percentage of profit in your sell price. They are not the same number, and confusing them is one of the most common, most expensive mistakes tradies and builders make. A 20% markup is only a 16.7% margin. A 30% markup is […]
The Hidden Costs of Employing Contractors (vs Employees)
Hey it’s Jon here. This is the ‘True Cost of Employment (Part 2). It’s a follow on first video that was about how much people actually cost you in monetary terms and comparing that to what you can charge out for them. This is more about the human side of things and of course the […]
Outsourcing and the Miracle of the Cloud – growing your business with offshore or external people
Today’s Toolbox Tip is called “Outsourcing and the Miracle of the Cloud.” Now one of the big obstacles to growing your trade business is your ability to handle stuff, isn’t it? There’s only so much capacity you’ve got… so much work you can do, and there’s only so much stuff you can handle. The traditional […]
Teamwork and Leadership: Are you doing it?
It’s Jon here from Small Fish Business Coaching with this week’s Tradies Toolbox blog post. I’m just going to show you in the camera a little image that we posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. It’s a quote by Brian Tracy about how important teamwork is and it says that, “Teamwork is so […]
Self Management – How To Manage Yourself Instead of Letting Everybody Else Be In Charge
It’s Jon here again from Small Fish. I want to talk today about managing yourself. One of the key secrets to success in a trade business is YOU, the boss. You are the owner. In many instances for many of you, you’re kind of the bottleneck through whichever all the work or most of the […]
The Third Donkey has the right idea
This video is all over Facebook at the moment. It’s pretty funny watching the donkeys jump over then the thinking donkey moving the pole. All the comments seem to be about wanting to be the third donkey but it took me somewhere else. There’s usually another way to approach a problem. We often approach our […]
Relevance of Yellow Pages in Marketing your Trades Business
Hey it’s Jon here! I just wanted to talk quickly today about some “Find Me” marketing. I’ve talked about it before. If you’re a trade, people know what you do, often anyway, and often they know what they want. They know if they want plumber or an electrician, or concreter or builder. So it’s important […]
Marketing Your Trades Business on The Job Site
Hey it’s Jon here. What I want to talk to you this week about is marketing… Marketing for your trades business. I want to talk specifically about site-based marketing. I’ve probably banged on about this a little bit in some previous videos. I certainly talk about it in my workshops and I certainly encourage all […]