An owner-operator is usually hands on and often works on the tools because they enjoy it! You’re likely to carry out some of the day to day responsibilities like: new jobs; answering the phones to customers; and chasing up payments. An owner-operator style business is usually ‘one man and his van’, or a small team (2 – 4 vans).

Judging from how you answered the quiz questions, it sounds like you want to keep running the day to day jobs within the business but see growth in the next few years (ie. more profit whilst spending less time physically working). 

Sounds like you? Keep on reading for advice on making your dream business a reality…

In order to run an owner-operator business and still see growth you need: 

• Consistent stream of new, quality customers. You need to know, regardless of the time of year, that your phone is going to ring with quality customers who are prepared to pay your prices and value your work. It is therefore important for your marketing to be flexible for your business, so if your work is seasonal or has quieter months, then you  can ‘dial up’ your marketing to ensure a healthy stream of new work. Alternatively, if your diary is full, you ‘dial down’ and spend less which will decrease overheads. Whilst not all marketing methods allow this flexibility, Google Ads is a marketing avenue which you can control based on how busy your diary is, therefore providing a consistent stream of new customers that works for you.

Why not have a FREE 30 minute consultation with one of our experts today to find out how many leads per month you could get?

• Local presence. An easy way to create a ‘future-proof’ business is to have a fantastic reputation in your local neighbourhood. You want people to recommend your business and to choose you, for years to come, instead of your competitors. Build up 100’s of 5 star Google and Facebook reviews. Get locals to recommend you on Facebook forums. Create a reason for current customers to want to refer you to others. 
• Delegate jobs that you don’t like doing. Write a list of the jobs that you do each month that you do not enjoy or take up a lot of time such as, chasing invoices, answering the phones, asking customers to leave a Google review, managing your own online advertising etc. Then, look at how you can delegate these jobs to either another person, or use a software to automate the task. If you want your owner-operator business to grow you cannot afford to be working 40+ hours per week on jobs you don’t enjoy (or perhaps aren’t skilled in), and have time left each week to focus on business growth.

Here’s some excellent advice from people who have been there and done it – grown an owner-operated business and got rich doing so! 

• Book: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About by Michael E. Gerber. 
• Podcast: Breaking The Hourly Pay Mindset, The Growth Vault Podcast by Josh Latimer. (10 mins)

Want to chat about growing your owner-operated business and getting more leads? Book in a 30 min call with our expert business developers – they’ll show you how we can help your business grow.