Operating a commerce or service enterprise is not any straightforward feat. Between job scheduling, quoting, managing employees, taking shopper calls, and tackling paperwork, it’s arduous to modify off. Nights and weekends can disappear right into a blur of emails, quoting, invoicing and admin.
However Alan Collins, proprietor of Westcork Electrical, appears to have cracked the code. He’s constructed a thriving commerce enterprise and a way of life to match, all of the whereas incomes a fame as one in every of Internal West Sydney’s prime residential electricians.
What’s his secret? A mixture of entrepreneurial drive, human contact, sensible methods like Xero and ServiceM8, in addition to loads of arduous work.
Alan shares his journey to discovering this stability, and what he’s discovered alongside the best way.
Taking the leap and discovering your area of interest
Alan began Westcork Electrical in 2016 after deciding it was time to exit on his personal.
“To be brutally trustworthy, I fell into the traditional entice of pondering: ‘Why am I working so arduous for another person? That is straightforward – why can’t I simply make my very own cash?’” he recollects.
Seeing a $30,000 bill from his outdated employer sparked the leap.
“I did the fit-out in about 5 days and bought paid $1,000. I believed that they had pocketed $29,000 — however I didn’t realise the sunshine fittings alone most likely price $15,000, plus all of the enterprise overheads within the background.”
Alan shortly discovered the ropes, experimenting with totally different shoppers earlier than discovering his candy spot. Now, Westcork Electrical specialises purely in residential service and upkeep electrical work.
From chaos to manage, with ServiceM8
Earlier than Alan mixed Xero with ServiceM8 in 2018, working Westcork Electrical was a each day battle.
“Earlier than ServiceM8 and Xero, it was mayhem; I used to be writing job and shopper particulars on items of cardboard. I used to be taking photos on my iPhone. It was an absolute mess.”
“Now, all the pieces is in a single spot; that’s actually how ServiceM8 saves me time. I’ve bought photographs, paperwork, emails, quotes, invoices, all the pieces on every particular person job card, not only for future jobs, however previous jobs too.”
For instance, a shopper messaged Alan for a certificates for some smoke alarms he put in years in the past:
“I typed her title into ServiceM8, introduced up the job, and positive sufficient, I’d despatched her that actual certificates in 2021. So I simply emailed it to her once more. That’s how straightforward ServiceM8 makes it to remain on prime of your customer support.”
Constructing the pliability you need
What does Alan love most about his enterprise?
“I really like the pliability. I’ve constructed a easy, lean enterprise with methods in place and a digital crew. If I’m going away, it doesn’t disintegrate, and I feel that’s very important.”
Now, Alan has achieved the type of work/life stability many tradies dream of.
“I can take off to Europe with my spouse for one or two months a yr. If I need to take subsequent Tuesday off, I can simply take subsequent Tuesday off. I don’t should ask a boss to do this. That’s most likely the most effective factor about working your personal enterprise.”
“Once you do it appropriately – and that’s very, very key – if you do it appropriately with methods, you may then delegate your time and take day off if you need.”
In fact, you’ll want to put the work in too.
“It’s not all glam;, I’m nonetheless busting myself once I’m working!” Alan says.
Xero and ServiceM8: An ideal match for tradies
For Alan, ServiceM8 and Xero are the proper pair.
“What I stress to individuals, is that you just use ServiceM8 and Xero collectively: one’s for bookkeeping, one’s to your job administration. They communicate to one another, and after they’re linked, it makes issues rather a lot handier.”
Alan says the mixture has confirmed to be an enormous time-saver.
“ServiceM8 being linked to Xero saves me a lot time,” Alan explains. “When you approve an bill in ServiceM8 and it goes throughout, Xero picks up that it’s come from ServiceM8, it picks up that the shopper has paid the invoice, and it’s able to reconcile. It simply saves a lot time, effort and cash. It makes my bookkeeper’s life rather a lot simpler as nicely!”
“The combination between Xero and ServiceM8 is seamless. It’s set and neglect. You click on just a few buttons, save, carried out. I’m very pleased with it.”
Be taught extra about how ServiceM8 job administration may also help your commerce enterprise succeed on the Xero App Retailer.
