Struggling here

[eddie1278]

I'm an electrical contractor struggling to get by because I was forced to go out and start my own business. I barely make any money and I am broke as a joke. I didn't have the money to start the business with tools, truck and materials. So I do small jobs out of my car and I have some tools.

I'm thinking of selling my tools and using the money to fund my online projects and focusing on them. I can always buy the tools again down the line. I can get 500-700 for them and that can pay for a lot of hosting and domains.

Should I do this?

 

[dheer]

You don't need money to make money online. Don't think to start spending money. Rather than first try to make money and then when you have enough chunk you can use this money to scale things.

 

[Duffers5000]

Eddie if you sell your tools you are selling the only means you have now to make any income. In my opinion to get going on line you need cheap hosting( usually available with mega discounts) and a domain ( go daddy or name cheap $2-$3 codes are on here everyweek) any IM tools you buy only automate tasks you could probably do better manually. Ie you only need them if you have lots of sites and need to free up time.

You have a good trade you should be able to make a living. My first site would be a local electrician site showing how good you are and what services you can provide within certain areas. I would also look to post some simple YouTube videos of how to wire a plug and how to test a circuit etc all pointing to your site which in turn would have your contact details easily found all over it.

TL/DR. Don't sell your tools.

 

[PRINCESSGRACE]

Defenitely NOT! Are your sure your gonna get something out of your online campaign? Do you have the knowledge and determination to do so? Do not tell me that you gonna do it even if you blah blah blah.

What you are gonna do is risk your only income source for an opportunity, Imagine an IMer selling his adsense blog that makes 200-300 a month just to buy some site in flippa that promises a higher payout. Sometimes it can work but most of the times it will not.

Also there are tons of free stuff here if you are wiiling to search. If you do not have money for domain and hosting they try our free blogs first. EARN the money in hosting and domains that your need in those free stuff.

 

[eddie1278]

I have hosting i just started 2 weeks ago I pay 5.95 a month for. I have started my wordpress website offering services such as website design, mobile websites, custom craigslist ads, custom videos. My main focus is to create custom craigslist ads (html,images) for contractors because I am a contractor and I see the horrible advertising they post. I am also going to target contractors mostly for websites because those are also horrible. I have been reading so much about making money since the late 90s but never really jumped in. I sold domain names back in the late 90s. I bought one for 500 and flipped it for $2,200.

I know my way around wordpress, html, css, photoshop, dreamweaver and have video editing software i know how to use also.

The problem with me making money in the electrical trade is...I don't have the startup money to run a professional business. I don't even own a truck I work out of a car (when i do have work). In my area Craigslist is flooded with "electricians" and handyman doing electric work. It's tough real tough.

 

[rockong]

Hey man,

That's not an easy situation, but I certainly wouldn't recommend doing that. Making money online takes time, lots of learning, and plenty of trial and error. At many times, it also takes some money to learn lessons "the hard way"

I say keep at your day job..SAVE UP MONEY..and do IM on the side.

Best of luck man...feel free to reach out if you need a mood lifter or anything

 

[ButcherPete]

IM takes a lot of time to get started. I worked my ass off on these sites for about 4 months and got nothing: zero dollars. It takes a while to learn what you're doing and figure out exactly what you have to do to rank a site and profit from it. I'm making a steady $40 a week now, but that took a long time. And it will take me even longer to build that up to a full-time income. And I've heard people on here saying that they've been at it for years and still haven't made any money.

Not to say IM is a futile endeavor; far from it. There is the potential to make way more money than you could with most 9-5 jobs. It's just that IM is not something to dive into headfirst. You know what I mean? Don't sell your tools and quit your business to do IM, because it may take quite a while. You could end up worse off than before.

My advice would be to work on IM on the side with whatever time and money you can spare. Then when you're making steady money in IM, "scale down" or quit your business and scale up the IM projects that are bringing you money.

 

[Numbuh362]

get a youtube partner account and make videos about how to do certain repairs, once you make money on that use the money to make a website and pay for hosting, hope this works.

 

[Tensegrity]

Eddie if you sell your tools you are selling the only means you have now to make any income.

This is spot on. Your tools are more than just physical assets, you should see them as a means to making more money than the tools themselves are worth and in fact this is the basis of being profitable with IM.

If you want free hosting, I can hook you up.
Also, open an Adsense account right away.

 

[TheViceroy]

Unfortunately its going to be hard to make money quick. Making money online is more of a long term project where you build up a business and it keeps paying. Rather than working a certain number of hours and making a specific amount of money for your time, you establish an ongoing stream of money.

For example, I may spend hours building a website, and that site will only make $100 per month. If I look at it that way, I may be working for $5 per hour. However, that site will continue making $100 per month for the foreseeable future, meaning I'm really making substantially more per hour.

If you're desperate for money, this can be a hard game.

 

[Tensegrity]

Unfortunately its going to be hard to make money quick. Making money online is more of a long term project where you build up a business and it keeps paying.

This is not true.

Learning how to make money online may take a while. Actually making money can happen overnight, once it clicks in with your brain, and that can happen at any time sooner or later.

 

[therage]

I see a lot of arguments on here and no real valid point of response. Read Mind Control Marketing and then go pick a niche. Do what the book says, then start reading other books. By the time you are done you will be seated enough to at least get conversions for any niche. Your ad copy for other contractors could work, but you need to know why they would buy from you other than your product? Once you figure out why (hint benefits that satisfy psychological driven needs and desires for buying the product) you will then in return be able to make conversions and sales. As for IM, once you get seated, you are ready to go and make a living online and offline.

 

[eddie1278]

Thank you for the input everyone. I decided I won't sell my tools even though I'm not making any money with them right now.

I do have lots of time to dedicate to my online stuff and I also don't have to pay rent for another 8 months. So I have the time and some things on my side.

I've also been pondering starting my own website about home improvements with all original content about many different home improvement topics. I've worked in various trades in my career not just electrical.

 

[ukmoneymaker]

Eddie - just an idea. It's obvious you have experience working your trade, so why not try and incorporate the two together? You said you had wordpress/html knowledge, how about going round all your local/not so local businesses / sole traders that do what you do or similar and offering them web design for a good price. Many times sole traders won't have a site, and you could quite easily charge a couple hundred quid at least to set them up with a simple wordpress site. Just a thought.

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you,

Al

 

[eddie1278]

Eddie - just an idea. It's obvious you have experience working your trade, so why not try and incorporate the two together? You said you had wordpress/html knowledge, how about going round all your local/not so local businesses / sole traders that do what you do or similar and offering them web design for a good price. Many times sole traders won't have a site, and you could quite easily charge a couple hundred quid at least to set them up with a simple wordpress site. Just a thought.

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you,

Al

Yes I have thought of that idea myself and the only thing holding me back is designing my own site to show examples. Also figuring out how to accept payments. I will NOT deal with Paypal at all. I had used them in the 90s and had an account for 8 years and the locked it.

 

[artificial_genius]

Yes I have thought of that idea myself and the only thing holding me back is designing my own site to show examples. Also figuring out how to accept payments. I will NOT deal with Paypal at all. I had used them in the 90s and had an account for 8 years and the locked it.

I'd start by working on that. If you can't figure out how to design sites or accept payments I don't think you'll be making much money online anyways.

 

[drywallrob]

I'm an electrical contractor struggling to get by because I was forced to go out and start my own business. I barely make any money and I am broke as a joke. I didn't have the money to start the business with tools, truck and materials. So I do small jobs out of my car and I have some tools.

I'm thinking of selling my tools and using the money to fund my online projects and focusing on them. I can always buy the tools again down the line. I can get 500-700 for them and that can pay for a lot of hosting and domains.

Should I do this?

You need to move to an area that needs electricians. That is the 1st step. In my area, electricians are hard to come by and try are very busy. Most of them charge $70 US per hour. It's going to take you a while to make that in IM. Since you are a newbie, it's gonna take some time until you do. Do IM at night and sling wire by day.

Good luck!

 

[darkmonk]

I think you are in a fantastic position with some big opportunities in front of you. I think your own home improvement site is a great idea. Take the skills you are learning to structure it, SEO it, make it sticky.

The other angle I would consider is this. Leverage your marketing skills to grow your own business. Don't sell your tools. Use the profits to buy new tools. Build up your electrician business. Find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. You're going to need to know this to be an effective marketer anyway.

Once you've grown your electrician business, create a product. Or a line of products plus some monthly services. You're going to have to work your ass off but you're in the perfect position to generate some serious proof.

Get your first truck. Then get ten trucks. Then create a franchise.

I know a dead person who started in a position just like you and did this and put tens of millions of dollars in his pocket by finding his niche. I'll tell you the coolest thing about him - he didn't care about the money, he cared about his guys. He never lived large, never really spent it, he was proud to pay all his guys 6 figure salaries and they rewarded him for it. And they were non union. One of the most humble guys I ever met. He just ground it out.

Heck, why not start your own reality tv show web series. YOU have the opportunity to be electrical jesus.

 

[eddie1278]

There's always a dick in every bunch congrats on being one.

Normal people plan things first. You can't just jump into offering services without having a payment method setup dumbass. I'm researching alternatives to paypal and will be taking checks over the phone most likely.

Who said I don't know how to design sites? I clearly stated that I DO know how to. Man are you drunk or just a kid?

oops forgot to quote the idiot. This is for "artificial genius"

 

[eddie1278]

I think you are in a fantastic position with some big opportunities in front of you. I think your own home improvement site is a great idea. Take the skills you are learning to structure it, SEO it, make it sticky.

The other angle I would consider is this. Leverage your marketing skills to grow your own business. Don't sell your tools. Use the profits to buy new tools. Build up your electrician business. Find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. You're going to need to know this to be an effective marketer anyway.

Once you've grown your electrician business, create a product. Or a line of products plus some monthly services. You're going to have to work your ass off but you're in the perfect position to generate some serious proof.

Get your first truck. Then get ten trucks. Then create a franchise.

I know a dead person who started in a position just like you and did this and put tens of millions of dollars in his pocket by finding his niche. I'll tell you the coolest thing about him - he didn't care about the money, he cared about his guys. He never lived large, never really spent it, he was proud to pay all his guys 6 figure salaries and they rewarded him for it. And they were non union. One of the most humble guys I ever met. He just ground it out.

Heck, why not start your own reality tv show web series. YOU have the opportunity to be electrical jesus.

View attachment 17910

Sounds good. The problem with this area is that their isn't a statewide license to do electric work. So I am competing with handymen and guys on craigslist claiming they are electricians because they installed a light fixture LOL! I put in years working for reputable electrical contractors and served my 4 year apprenticeship I know what I'm doing and I do it very well! If I had a nice truck I would put myself out there more but I don't because most people who see a guy driving up in a car to do electric work perceive them as a hack. I don't want to be perceived as a hack.