Overview of the Situation
Sole trader start up was looking at using his carpentry skills and run his own business, having worked for two large housebuilding companies for the past ten years. There was a fear in taking the leap, especially knowing that there was a risk that if unsuccessful, there would be a loss in personal revenue plus the challenge of having to go back and become an employee again.
The Problem They Faced
There was a huge risk for the business owner that whilst he wanted to grow quickly, if this happened too fast and he couldn’t recruit a skilled colleague, he would end up disappointing prospective customers. However he did need to understand how he could ensure a steady flow of customers who would use him.
The Causes of the Problem
The main concern came from the fact that the business owner had never run a business, and whilst he was a very good carpenter, he was not aware of how to market him, or the business effectively.
The Impact of the Problem
Failure would result in no revenue, and therefore no salary for the business owner. Longer-term, his aspirations of “being his own boss” would have been lost.
The Promise / Plan
We promised the business owner that after working with us for a three-month project we would enable them to:
- Have a steady flow of customers for their services
- Be the known expert within their community for their industry
- Connect with other influencers that could refer them work
- Build and present a cost-effective pricing structure that showed value for the customer
- Have confidence that his business is successful and would continue to grow over the next 3 years
The Outcome
After three months, the business was:
- Regularly being shared on local social media as the best carpenter in the area
- Delivering and annual revenue run-rate in excess of £160,000
- Employing an apprentice and regularly using other referred experts to broaden services
- Structured to allow the owner to take a week off every quarter without impact on his business
- Forecasting growth to achieve over £250k annual revenue within three years
- Starting to gain marketing traction outside of the base town
