Start Your Own Business - But Get Experience First

If you've made the decision to start your own service business, then good for you. Deciding to actually start something puts you way ahead of everyone. While they're still dreaming of what could be, you're actually getting things done.

Most service businesses require a certain level of skill to perform the required work. Everything from landscaping, to window cleaning, to pressure washing, to handyman services - they all require a certain level of competency before you can hang your shingle out and advertise your services. In most cases, if you decide to wing it, you're in for some pretty rough times. It's not fair to you and it's not fair to your customers.

But where do you get the experience if you can't do the work? It's the whole chicken-and-the-egg syndrome and it can be pretty frustrating for any budding entrepreneur that wants to get his/her business off the ground now.

Well, there are a few options:

1. Enroll in a course to learn your chosen trade. Many times, you'll be able to take a course at your local college, or you can look around and find a class being offered by some of your major suppliers. An example of this might be a carpet cleaning course offered by a manufacturer of carpet cleaning equipment. Given the choice, you're almost always better off to go with the hands-on training you will receive from people that are already in the business - in other words, take advantage of any courses offered by your suppliers.

2. You can send away for books and video or take an online course in your chosen field. While this may not be as effective as a traditional "hands-on" method, some of this information is very well packaged and is full of exactly what you need to get going.

3. On-the-job training. The experience you'll gain by working for another company in the same field is priceless - even if you're only there for a short period of time. This is the route most people take because it provides unparalleled experience in just about every situation. If you're going to run into snags, there's a good chance it's going to happen while you're working for someone else. Although some people may have a moral dilemma with "using" another company to gain experience to start a business, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. First of all, while you're working for the other company you should be giving 110% of yourself. Don't go in with the attitude that you going to be leaving in a few months. They are paying you to do a job and put in an honest days work and you are morally obligated to do this. The second thing is to make sure you don't open a competing business within that same company's territory. Not only can you be sued if you signed a non-compete document, but, when it comes down to it, it's just wrong.

Starting up your own business is exciting, however, you want to make sure that you're providing value to your customers. They are counting on you to be the professional and if you're lacking skills in any area it's imperative that you prepare yourself by getting the required experience before you even think about opening your doors to the public.