as most of you know im a 1 man plumbing shop....in business since 2006 now
talked about hiring for 3 years, but done nothing
sales up every year
finally at the point of exhaustion and its not fun running the business anymore...its a chore because it takes so much of my time
my back has been having issues for a while.....then I had a injury which pinched a nerve which gave me a Charlie horse in my right leg...so bad it made me double over in pain....went to 2 chiropractors, 2 emergency room visits and 1 normal doctor....I was on 3 types of pain meds.....all this happened 2 days before my yearly Florida vacation
it all lasted 7 days until I was able to walk....I used a wheel chair at Disneyland and had to walk bent over to get on rides
now im back home and back to work.....I physically cant do the heavy lifting by myself anymore (42 years old)...im physically broke
So!....ive decided to hire a 1st or 2nd year apprentice.....basically someone I can use for cheap labor and train to be anal like me about his work......its going to cost me $50,000 a year if I do not make any increase in sales....which kills me.....since that's all out of my profit....my goal is to have some more time to make calls and to increase sales a bit....1 or 2 new customers can make that $50,000 back + my homeowner service calls are always increasing too(word of mouth)
im scared....its something new.....its probably taken 3 years and a back injury to over come most of the fear
now here's the question!
I rarely work 40 hours a week....sure if you count bids and office time I work 50-60+......but in the field its 30 hours on average...some weeks 40-50...some weeks 10!!!!!
WTF do I do with my apprentice....im not laying him off every other week
yes I can have him wash the work van, organize and clean the van.......I can have him painting my shed or kids play set.....shoveling snow, cutting lawn, pulling weeds....but at some point there will just be nothing for him to do.....and its going to be a weekly thing.....paying someone for doing nothing
sure it will cut my week hours down by 10-15...which gives me time to sit on the phone looking for new customers.....while he sits on a lawn chair in my back yard
my first thought is to only guarantee him 32 hours a week.....I think the union will let me get away with making a 32 hour work week standard......ive thought of trying to call around to lend him to my competition.....but then if he's good all that does is get them to steal him from me....
apprentices cant work alone until their 5th year.....the reasons I want a 1-2 year apprentice is #1 to keep wages low, train him from the start and to avoid buying a work van w/ tools........either way its a double edged sword.....I have to choose the lesser of 2 evils and I think a 1st year apprentice is the way to go......a laborer would actually be perfect, but the union doesn't allow it.....I could skip the insurance and pay $12 per hour instead of $35 per hour(with benefit pkg)....
if I could find a clone of myself id just hire a journeyman, give him my van and tools.....and id become the salesman for my business...sit behind a desk and get fat.....ive only met 1 other plumber as good/fast as me.....and he quit and started his own business too
im looking into employee handbooks this weekend and noncompete forms
talked about hiring for 3 years, but done nothing
sales up every year
finally at the point of exhaustion and its not fun running the business anymore...its a chore because it takes so much of my time
my back has been having issues for a while.....then I had a injury which pinched a nerve which gave me a Charlie horse in my right leg...so bad it made me double over in pain....went to 2 chiropractors, 2 emergency room visits and 1 normal doctor....I was on 3 types of pain meds.....all this happened 2 days before my yearly Florida vacation
it all lasted 7 days until I was able to walk....I used a wheel chair at Disneyland and had to walk bent over to get on rides
now im back home and back to work.....I physically cant do the heavy lifting by myself anymore (42 years old)...im physically broke
So!....ive decided to hire a 1st or 2nd year apprentice.....basically someone I can use for cheap labor and train to be anal like me about his work......its going to cost me $50,000 a year if I do not make any increase in sales....which kills me.....since that's all out of my profit....my goal is to have some more time to make calls and to increase sales a bit....1 or 2 new customers can make that $50,000 back + my homeowner service calls are always increasing too(word of mouth)
im scared....its something new.....its probably taken 3 years and a back injury to over come most of the fear
now here's the question!
I rarely work 40 hours a week....sure if you count bids and office time I work 50-60+......but in the field its 30 hours on average...some weeks 40-50...some weeks 10!!!!!
WTF do I do with my apprentice....im not laying him off every other week
yes I can have him wash the work van, organize and clean the van.......I can have him painting my shed or kids play set.....shoveling snow, cutting lawn, pulling weeds....but at some point there will just be nothing for him to do.....and its going to be a weekly thing.....paying someone for doing nothing
sure it will cut my week hours down by 10-15...which gives me time to sit on the phone looking for new customers.....while he sits on a lawn chair in my back yard
my first thought is to only guarantee him 32 hours a week.....I think the union will let me get away with making a 32 hour work week standard......ive thought of trying to call around to lend him to my competition.....but then if he's good all that does is get them to steal him from me....
apprentices cant work alone until their 5th year.....the reasons I want a 1-2 year apprentice is #1 to keep wages low, train him from the start and to avoid buying a work van w/ tools........either way its a double edged sword.....I have to choose the lesser of 2 evils and I think a 1st year apprentice is the way to go......a laborer would actually be perfect, but the union doesn't allow it.....I could skip the insurance and pay $12 per hour instead of $35 per hour(with benefit pkg)....
if I could find a clone of myself id just hire a journeyman, give him my van and tools.....and id become the salesman for my business...sit behind a desk and get fat.....ive only met 1 other plumber as good/fast as me.....and he quit and started his own business too
im looking into employee handbooks this weekend and noncompete forms
via Small-Business-Forum.net http://www.small-business-forum.net/managing-your-business/9986-finally-going-hire-employee-moving-forward-next-week.html
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