As long as you have the required licenses and experience starting a business in the trades is easy. Succeeding, on the other hand, is not. If you find you are struggling to prosper, here are five possible reasons.  

No matter your trade you are mostly undervaluing your service and skill set, so you are underprice your time and service. The public is less handy today than in years past. High schools have dropped shop. The average homeowner does not know how to fix things, and is generally not inclined to.   

People in the trades learn technical skills. They learn how to fix physical problems. The lessons are well taught and you are good at it. However, business ownership requires business skills. You may have attended a trade school for plumbing as an example but there is not an owner school for running a plumbing (fill in your trade) company.

As a business owner, you must move beyond the craft of your trade and learn the craft of business. It is just as intrinsically rewarding and more extrinsically rewarding than technical work. In other words, the craft of plumbing and the craft of business can both be satisfying, but becoming good at or having some to assist you on the business will ultimately result in a higher income.  

As a person on the trades you decide to grow. You hire a couple of guys and they go sideways. You struggle to find anyone else. Instead of accepting that recruiting and developing the people is hard work,  you give up and decide it’s easier to be a star in a one-man band.

In all the all trades, obstacles are natural in business. In a service business, many of the greatest challenges are related to human resources.  In growing a business, people will disappoint you and break your heart. That doesn’t mean you should give up and live life as a hermit.  Keep at it.  Keep trying. Give it more time and effort. Learn from past mistakes. Just do not quit.

Many people on the trades grow cynical over time.   The world does not treat him or her as well as they once hoped, so they become distrustful.  They start to think that the world is out to get them.   They view everyone and every opportunity skeptically. 

This carries a huge opportunity cost. In an effort to avoid getting burnt, the cynical contractor misses opportunities to prosper and grow. Worse, is the impact on the trades persons attitude. Cynicism implies a pessimistic view of the world where the glass is half empty.  

How the trades person sees the world is how the world typically receives him/her.  Seeing the world through the lens of scarcity and scarcity is what is encountered. Seeing the world full of abundance and abundance is what is found.

One of the main reasons people in the trades struggle is they aim too low. They could be so much more, but instead, they become comfortable just getting by. They start to coast, but coasting is still heading downhill.  

The quest to be more, to be the best they can be, leads some in trades to overcome all of the other reasons why they struggle. They overcome them and build substantial, successful businesses. This is possible for any plumber, including you.

Most people in the trades lack the resources to improve on their own without help.  Sure, some do it, but they are exceptional. Most need the advice of successful peers, business training and access to proven business resources and tools.  By finding a trusted advisor can you help you overcome the obstacles indicated above.   Let the group at Raising Your Barr help you achieve your business goals and dreams while maintaining a balance of daily events.   

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