Re: Life Sucks, Then You Move On

On Dec 4, 9:28 pm, Effenpig1 <dirtyspicev...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 4, 8:14 pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:



On Dec 4, 1:47 pm, JoeRaisin <joeraisin2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Lost my job yesterday. My regional ops mgr and supervisor are lobbying
to get that decision reversed but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm receiving a military pension which helps in one regard but that
almost entirely offsets unemployment...

Filed a DBA (Doing Business As) today for low voltage wiring and I'm
picking up liability insurance Monday. I have a few questions.

I am NICET Level II Certified and hold a Michigan Fire Alarm Specialty
Technician License.

1. What's covered under a non-compete clause? I won't be installing
alarms but am planning on trying to subcontract low voltage wiring for
sprinkler companies. Mainly (I hope) it will be phones, TV, network
cabling - things like that (I don't know enough right now about sound
system cabling but I'm a quick study if it comes to it).

Hi Joe,

Sorry to hear about your job loss.

As far as what's covered under a non compete agreement, it varies and
there's no standard wording. Every company can put what they want in
them as long as it's legal. Some companies use a boiler plate form but
most custom word them to match their particular situation. If I were
you, I'd ask your former employer for a copy so you can see where you
stand. There may be a no compete within a certain milage, certainly
with their existing customers. There can be clauses regarding how you
solicit business and how you refer to yourself to your customers as a
former employee of the company. Regardless, as long as you can prove
that  you didn't or don't deliberately go after their accounts, they
can't deprive you of making a living. Where the problem arises is if
someone does want to press the point that you are breaking your non
compete agreement, and takes it to court, you have to pay an attorney
to defend you even if you win.

With my license I can do NFPA Fire Alarm Inspections and am told (by
someone who may or may not know what they are talking about) that as
long as I don't solicit current customers of my former employer it isn't
a problem.

It depends upon the wording in the agreement you signed.

2. I know it varies from region to region but how would you guys go
about estimating a wiring job? By the foot? By the estimated hours?
By the number of drops? All of the above? Money up front or bill later
or a combination?

A wiring job for what? Now, I estimate for the amount of time and the
cost of wire. The cost of wire only if it's a big job. But that is
something that I do from experience and have to see the job to do the
estimate. Keep in mind that I no longer do commercial and when I did,
I was estimating for the entire job, from pre-wire to turn on. I never
did just wiring. I always got half the job payment up front and if the
job was delayed for any reason, after 30 days I got another 25%.

As for contacting builders - I was thinking about doing a sort of
'resume' thing that details my background, training and what services I
offer and visiting builders in person. Any suggestions?

During this time, visiting builders as a new kid on the block, I don't
think will be very productive. Builders are running in the stealth
mode right now because of the economy which has hit them the hardest.
It never hurts to get  your name out there but I wouldn't expect too
much from that area right now. A business card with some of the things
you do on it and a vist, if you can get them to even talk with you is
the best. What I found with builders is just keep dropping in on them
every few months and someday you just may hit them when they're
looking. It's usually, out of sight, out of mind with them, until you
actually do some work for them. Of course, once you get to talk to
them they'll want you to give them a special SPECIAL discount because
they're a  builder. I never understood their reasoning that you were
supposed to make less money per hour because you were working for a
builder. So they could add a hundred percent to your price and keep
the difference. When I first started I would give them the discount
that they were looking for until I finally wised up and had an
established following. Then, I stopped persuing that kind of business.
Now, if and when, rarely I'm asked by a builder to give them a price,
they get the same price as if I were quoting to a potential client. As
you can guess, I don't get much business from that sector anymore.
It's very cut throat and there's no loyalty (in my experience) Lowest
price rules.

3. Business cards - I googled free business cards and came up with tons
of sites - have any of you used such a thing and do you have any
recommendations? Simple/fancy - what info should be on them?

I've never used a free service. I have a  printer that I've used for
years. Besides, at this stage of the game, I don't have much use for
business cards. 99% of my work is referral. However, I vote for
simplicity. Mine is a plain white card with the company name in red
and the rest in blue. List the type of work I do. My license numbers
(required by law) my personal name and year established which I didn't
have on the card until I'd been in business 10 years. I've thought
about listing the things that I do, in greater detail on the back of
the card, but I don't think most people will normally turn a business
card over.

4. Supplies - I know I can get wire at Home Depot or the local
Electrical Supply house - what other options might there be? I've
worked with enough cheap wire before to know I want to use a decent
product so are there any brands I should avoid?

I'd think that you'd do much better on wire pricing at someplace like
ADI, Tried, Alarmax, even Graybar or some electrical supplier. I don't
think  you're going to get the best price at Home Depot. I typically
buy from ADI and they use Genesis brand. It's not the top quality but
it seems to do the job.

I know these may be basic and perhaps dumb questions but I've never had
to deal with such things before and I have to admit I'm still a little
befuddled and off balance - pretty sick to my stomach as well.

Is there anything else I should be considering? I am totally a fish out
of water here but, being in Michigan, there's a lot of folks lining up
for 7 buck an hour night stock jobs so, while I do plan on looking for
something, and who knows - this might work out. Regardless, I've got to
do something or we don't eat.

Well, I'm sorry to say that there's a whole shit load of things you
should be considering but if you've been around long enough, have a
common sense attitude about what you're doing, things will turn out
OK.

I know it's not much but hope this helped a little.

Try Vista Print for the business cards, just be careful to not sign up
for the vista rewards club ( it deducts 15 a month from your account,
I didn't notice for several months but they refunded all money
promptly when I complained.) Anyway, they have some nice stuff for the
prices.

I opened my doors in '04 and I would never go back, ever

Good luck

Did you watch out for the vista club trap? I think it's incorporated
into the checkout button ;)

I didn't realize I had signed up for the rewards club, but they did
send me a bunch of free w/shipping deals. I did get some of the stuff
- 100 free postcards, t-shirts, rubber stamps, custom posters. I
didn't realize I was getting these offers because I had joined this
"club". Anyway, they deducted $14.99 per month for 11 months before I
caught on ( yes , I'm a little slow). I called and complained and a
few days later the money for all 11 months was back in my account.

I designed a poster ( they had a limited number of backgrounds to
choose from), anyway, I chose one of a beach and ocean scene with a
palm tree in the foreground. In BOLD it reads " WHAT A VACATION !!!!"
then below it in small print " Too bad someone has broken into your
house and is raping your cat at this very moment". At the bottom it
reads "Don't wait till it's too late" and My Security Company Name". I
have it on my home office wall and it still cracks me up every time I
look at it. *Sigh* I really need to get out more.

Anyway, I think you'll be happy with the vistaprint stuff, it's nice
quality for the money. Just watch your account for debits of $14.99. I
do try to source as many supplies locally as possible, it can be a
great avenue for new customers. I get my T-shirts printed locally and
I have their security account. I get my signs local and have their
account. I have 3 accounts with my insurance agent, and so on. BTW, I
swear 10% of my accounts are pizza shops ( starting to really hate
pizza at this point) My advice would be to get out there face to face,
IMHO it will get you more business, and more "bang for your buck" than
advertising. Some may argue with this, but don't waste big bucks on
yellow page ads and the like. Go out, get some customers, treat them
right, and let them advertise for you.

I'm reading back over what I just typed and it appears I've had way to
much caffeine tonite.

.

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