As most blue collar business owners start with less than that, the money is less relevant to me than the mistakes I would avoid and the items I would push.
1.) I would have protected my cash flow way more and made payments on trailers/equipment instead of paying in full until I built up better savings.
2.) Invested in more marketing along the way and prioritized leads/sales followups.
3.) set up help around me instead of trying to find ways of increasing my capacity.
Great points. I think it depends on the business and the owner’s risk tolerance. I actually took the opposite approach. We paid cash for our trucks and equipment whenever possible, which has kept our monthly overhead low and given us peace of mind during slower months because we aren’t worried about truck payments.
Another thing that worked well for us was not buying equipment until a job actually required it. If a customer needed specialized equipment, we factored that cost into the scope of work. That way, each new piece of equipment was paid for by the project that required it instead of becoming an upfront expense.
I know financing works well for many businesses, but for us, staying as debt-free as possible and letting our customers fund our growth has been one of the best decisions we’ve made.
