I guess I'm lucky also. I have never had to beat the bushes for work. I get work by word of mouth moreso than any advertising I could pay for. I have had many customer recommendations to others they either work with of for.........so many that I have to tell them to slow it down because I get too far behind. I don't see a lot of lost time either. My computer/paperwork is done every day in just a few minutes, my scans for parts doesn't take long, and my wife also does all the bookwork and keeps everything nice and neat for my CPA.I guess I'm pretty lucky here . Not much of what you said applies to me.
I never look for work it's more of a try to get away from too much work. If I dont know the phone number I let it go to voicemail. In fact I very seldom answer while I'm working.
My wife does the paperwork taxes and parts pickup we have always lived on single income even when I was company employed.
We live in Canada so we have health care supplied
We are able to charge more per hour here the dealer is at 180 field and they usually aren't very well trained.
I do bill time for parts lookup and other lost time
All tools and equipment are a tax write off and I would buy a lot of tools doing company work too.
I have no leases or payments , everything is paid for as I go. Accounting tells me when I need to spend more to cut taxes.
I do realize that very few people are in the position I'm in and not everybody would have lots of work but you need to look after yourself or it isn't worth it. There is certainly a level of comfort that comes with company work but the profit margin here is definitely higher being self employed
If your going to work a 40 hour week for just labor alone, you will not make decent money. I have to bill for travel time, mileage, supply costs, etc.... My biggest advantage against my dealer competitors is response time and knowledge. If you call Cat here for field service, your waiting at least a week and the other dealers aren't any better. Ive also found many times that I personally know more about the equipment than a lot of them do, with the exception of them being able to hook a computer into their systems. Too many times have a seen an issue be misdiagnosed by the field techs that come out......and it is quite often.
I am usually able to be on scene within 48 hours, 24 hours if its local to me. The customers are greatly appreciative of this alone, and I guess I'm also a good people person. I can usually give them options on repairs that dealers don't do.
I will admit that I do have an hourly rate, but it is hardly ever used anymore. I do most work by quote, bid, or flat rate now days. Most customers don't want to have their checkbooks "open" to an hourly rate here. Most all of them want to know what they will be spending to make a repair, especially my county, city, and state governments. I constantly am competing with the equipment dealers here and normally will win a job 80% of the time.
Maybe I'm lucky.........but the biggest reason is the FACT that customer service provided by the dealers here has gone by the way side. Opportunities are abound here for someone that wants to work and treats their customers fair.